Being profanely busy as usual, my old enemy time has proven itself to be a worthy foe. Not to worry though I have the ultimate weapon to combat my old adversary, and I call this weapon “FRIENDS”. Yes, I get by with a little help from my friends. Having obligations and priorities, I continue to scratch lines on the to do list and that is progression. Maybe not at the speed I would like, but it is progression none the less.
Here is my dilemma, My focus is on completing objectives and I have a task for the readers of this blog, as well as my other social media outlets to take participation in. Last night, I photographed a wedding. One shot has stood out in my eyes, and normally I would title an image that stands out. Although rare by most accounts I find myself at a loss for words, and the simple inability to come up with a title for this photograph. You readers are being asked to offer your suggestions. So here is the photo,

YOU NAME IT

and you can submit your suggestion’s to either my email, mike@mrsargent.com , or you can post a comment here on this blog. Also suggestions will be taken on face book as well as twitter @msargentphoto . By the way,,, follow me on twitter. Thx!!!

For interested parties, here is the settings I used, The rules of light were broken as I shot into the sun, and employing a center weighted metering mode, I captured this using an ISO of 640 and a shutter speed of 1/100 of a sec @ f 5.6 . My focal range was 77 mm and as always I used a Canon camera and Tamron lens combination. I converted this to B&W using Adobe Lightroom and made a few adjustments in exposure and contrast.

I look forward to seeing some titles and as always thank you for reading.

As of late, I am on a bit of an insect/macro kick for no other reason than it is fun. I also have taken note that since my first bee shot several weeks ago, that several friends has followed suit and are sharing my interest. One word Cool? I think that’s the word I want to use here.
Anyway, today I am going to follow-up with what some would consider to be the stuff that monster movies are made of. In my eyes however it is simply lunch time.
Poking around in the gardens, I came across this Grasshopper. Being slightly larger and a still subject I decided to snap a few shots. Using a very old Canon 35 to 80 mm lens with 1.5 feet macro capabilities I began to snap a few images. Unsure at this point of how this lens would perform I took a look at the image on the LCD and was slightly surprised that this 25-year-old lens performed this well. I recall the day I obtained this lens as it was part of film camera purchase I made shortly after I wed. I can tell you that the lens outlasted the camera, and through my obsessive nature, I kept the lens in storage until recently, when I threw it in my camera bag, just in case the opportunity arose to play around with some macro shots.
On to the images,

This looks tasty

As the grasshopper began to feast, I moved in for that close up shot and took one photo, that I hoped would provide some detail in the final image after editing.

Yes, this old lens still had it. Glad I kept it around.

Munching on the Forage

For those that are interested, here are a few of my settings on these images. A Canon 7d set at ISO 400, with partial metering employed as well as a single focus point. The lens as stated was an old canon 35 to 80 mm lens with macro. An aperture of f-4 was able to obtain a shutter speed of 1/400 given the lighting available at the time of capture. Focal distance was roughly 2 feet away, and I had the lens zoomed in at 80mm. Using lightroom to make a few adjustments in saturation and contrast, this was the results of what I call an experiment using an old lens. I guess you can say that my experiment worked.

Thanks for having a look at today’s post, and I wish you all the best.

I have come to a very real realization that time is precious. Well lets just say that I have always known this, and often times have considered time an enemy. Feeling that way is simply because it seems I never have enough of it. It is something that I have come to embrace over they years and instead of feeling frustrated because of the lack of it, I have shifted gears and now kind of view time as precious, and the best course and mindset is to make the most of the time I have. With a growing list of things to do and rarely being able to scratch a to do off the list, I have learned that it is best to enjoy the simple things, and feel accomplished when you are able to run a line off that list.
Case in point The crew put in a long, hard, hot day of filming recently, and as we snapped images and filmed video, we all felt like we had accomplished a few things. With that feeling, I noted some insect activity around the garden earlier and decided to have a closer look.
Good call! Enter the world beneath us. The insects were buzzing crawling and flying and the shutter was also a snapping.
A spot of white on a butterfly bush caught my attention, and as I had a closer look, we stumbled across a “Golden crab spider”. I had never seen one of these before and decided to snap a few shots. One image that I liked, posted here, was taken without a macro lens. Fact is I don’t own a dedicated macro, and now I refer back to my to do list. A macro lens will be a future purchase.
The image.

Crab Spider

Macro photos with out a macro lens, is cool but, the detail needed for a great shot can only be acquired with the right equipment. Lots of options here, and one in particular is a reverse lens ring. A cool and effective way to do this, but me being me, would prefer the lens itself. In summary I need to do a little research and make a choice.

Another shot I want to share is this butterfly. Talk about round and round, this insect made me work hard for this image, and I’m glad it did.

A hard shot

I took the liberty of some creative editing on this image to offer a different look to this often seen composition. The contrast and clarity have been boosted just to give this a different look. Some like it, some don’t. Either way I know that some of the recent close up images have inspired a few people, and they have gone out and purchased some equipment, and that is good for the economy, and the picture world.

Being kind of moron here I will say to the benefactors of my inspiration.. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Wrapping it up, I will leave the cyber world with a fond goodbye, a see you next time, and my best advice regarding photography.

The past several months have been full of busy. As we continue to film for Shoot 2 Thrill and a variety of other activities taking place, I have not been as consistent of a blogger. In addition, I recently suffered a major computer issue that simply wiped out my system and it took quite a bit of time to just get things working again. With things seemingly back to normal, I am back in the game.

Our last filming for Shoot 2 Thrill was themed Harley’s or as I like to call them Iron Horses. Some of the shots I envisioned was to be done in HDR and although our shooting local was not the best suited for this type of photography I think all in all thee images worked. One image from this shoot.

Iron Horse

Now on to the cool stuff, Our shooting which in fact was Torquil Studios, has some pretty cool objects that are just perfect for photography, and one such spot was the lavish garden. The insects that buzz the flowers within make for some great photo opportunity, and I took advantage of them.

BUTTER FLY

This shot was the favorite of the day, Using a high speed shutter I was able to capture this during a rare moment when the butterfly landed. I thought this insect would be easy to shoot but it wasn’t as easy as I had thought. They do not remain idle long and our presence did not help matters.

This last shot was done just to see if it was possible.

I personally like it because one of my daughters was part of the composition. So my bias is to be considered here.

Up close

Well as Forest Gump would say,,, ” That’s all I got to say about that”

Until next post, may you take the time to slow down and enjoy the little things.

SHOOT IT!

Mike

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Some of you reading may or may not know, that Torquil Studios and Myself do a small web production called Shoot 2 Thrill. To date we have only produced one video known as the cast but we are aggressively working other productions. On todays agenda, we are starting to put together an image that will contain some American Iron. Yes we are photographing some Harley Davidson motorcycles. In addition we are also going to be composing the photograph that I am calling The Archers Zenith. As with the cast photo the whole concept of these images simply comes into my head. Somehow I get this idea of a subject and the picture I would like to compose appears in my mind and the challenge is to produce a photograph as I see it in my head. When I present these ideas, a discussion regarding the photo generally takes place, and other ideas regarding the composition is inserted. If I can see the image in my head I know I can recreate that vision. But sometimes the ideas regarding these images just don’t form a mental image for me. I guess it can be assumed that once the image appears in my head I am pretty much intent on how I want to shoot it. Call me stubborn, but I am not really interested in doing something that has been done before, unless of course I can make it better. That is a problem in itself for the simple fact that although imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, one does like to be known for an original idea and or creating something that may be unique. In turn that gives the shooting photographer a certain bokeh in his original images. It is possible however, that I am over thinking all this, as I do have that tendency.

In summary however When we complete all these little projects of ours I will be sharing links and information to everyone who reads this blog, so they may have a look at our little hobby.